45 research outputs found
Angela Carter’s Postmodern Feminism and the Gothic Uncanny
No full textAngela Carter is a most controversial feminist writer in contemporary literary scene
as her writing handles many gender and cultural issues in a unique subversive, even
provocative way. Critics have discussed the political (in)efficacy of her feminist
views and the significance of her revisionary writing strategy, but as to what really
constitutes the unsettling power, the sharp edge of Carter’s writing, besides the
enunciation of different feminist stances, critics have so far offered rather little
in-depth analysis or new angles. With regard to this, the essay seeks to establish a
critical model of reading Carter’s horrific power by bringing in, or rather shedding
light on, a narrative tradition that Carter has employed all along—the Gothic
tradition—to the existing critical perspectives on Carter’s writing, i.e., feminism,
postmodernism, among others. The author argues that there exists an intricate
dialectic between Carter’s feminism, postmodern practice, and her use of the Gothic,
that her Gothic view underlies the horrific power of her speculative writing, and
moreover, her writing exhibits a space which is not just postmodern, full of the joy of
depthless play, but also a fearful space of the Gothic where the play is haunted by its
play
Fight the Cistem – Fotografien von Horst P. Horst neu interpretiert
No full textChapter of Voß, H.-J., & Katzer, M. (Eds.). (2019). Geschlechtliche und sexuelle Selbstbestimmung durch Kunst und Medien. Psychosozial-Verlag.https://www.psychosozial-verlag.de/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/20000/products_id/7456https://doi.org/10.30820/9783837974560peerReviewedpublishedVersio
INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY AND PHOTOCHEMISTRY OF NITROMETHANE ADSORBED ON ALKALI HALIDE FILMS: CONFORMERS AND QUENCHING
No full textAuthor Institution: Department of Chemistry, University of ScrantonNitromethane was adsorbed at low temperature onto sublimited alkali halide films. We have observed two conformational isomers on these surfaces, manifest as a temperature-dependent splitting of the asymmetric C-H stretching modes. The energy difference and barrier height to interconversion between these conformations were determined for molecules adsorbed on NaCl, NabR, KCL, and KBr films over temperatures ranging from 12K to 160 K. Irradiation of the adsorbate at wavelengths above 250 nm does not yield any observable photoproducts, while irradiation using wavelengths below 250 nm produces a variety of photoproduct species. The surface apparently has little effect on the (198nm gas phase) photochemistry, but quenches the photochemistry (singlet-singlet: 270 nm; singlet-triplet: 326nm) to an undetectable level
Phonological Awareness and Executive Function in Children with Speech Sound Impairment
No full textabstract: A substantial amount of research demonstrates that preschoolers' phonological awareness skills are a robust predictor of children's later decoding ability. Several investigators examined performance of children with speech sound impairment (SSI), defined as inaccurate production of speech sounds in the absence of any etiology or communication impairment, on phonological awareness tasks. Investigators found that children with SSI scored below their typically developing peers (TD) on phonological awareness tasks. In contrast, others found no differences between groups. It seems likely that differences in findings regarding phonological awareness skills among children with SSI is the fact that there is considerable heterogeneity among children with SSI (i.e., speech errors can either be a phonological or articulation). Phonology is one component of a child's language system and a phonological impairment (SSI-PI) is evident when patterns of deviations of speech sounds are exhibited in a language system. Children with an articulation impairment (SSI-AI) produce speech sound errors that are affected by the movements of the articulators, not sound patterns. The purpose of the study was to examine whether or not children with SSI-PI are at greater risk for acquiring phonological awareness skills than children with SSI-AI. Furthermore, the phonological awareness skills of children with SSI-PI and SSI-AI were compared to those of their typical peers. In addition, the role of executive function as well as the influence of phonological working memory on phonological awareness task performance was examined.
Findings indicate that the SSI-PI group performed more poorly on an assessment of phonological awareness skills than the SSI-AI and TD groups. The SSI-PI group performed significantly more poorly on tasks of executive function and phonological working memory than the TD group. The results of this study support the hypothesis that children with SSI-PI may be more vulnerable to difficulties in reading than children with SSI-AI and children with TD.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Speech and Hearing Science 201
An in vivo pharmacokinetic study of metformin microparticles as an oral sustained release formulation in rabbits
No full textThis research was funded by the Government of the Region de Murcia (Spain) by the Fundacion Seneca (project 20950/PI/18). The Fundacion Seneca had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.Background: Metformin hydrochloride is a biguanide derivative that has been widely used to treat type 2 diabetes
in humans. In veterinary medicine, metformin has shown increasing potential for diabetes treatment in different
species, such as equids, dogs, cats and rabbits. It is highly hydrophilic, with incomplete gastrointestinal absorption
and very large variability in absolute bioavailability between species, ranging from 4% in equids to 60% in humans.
Metformin also shows a short half-life of approximately 2 h in dogs, cats, horses and humans. The objectives of this
study were to evaluate a poly (lactic acid) (PLA) metformin microparticle formulation to test in rabbits and conduct a
pharmacokinetics study of intravenous (
SIV) and oral solution (
SPO) metformin administration and oral PLA microparticle
(
SPLA) administration to rabbits to evaluate the improvement in the metformin pharmacokinetics profile.
Results: Metformin-loaded PLA microparticles were characterized by a spherical shape and high encapsulation
efficiency. The results from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy suggested the presence of interactions
between metformin and PLA. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis corroborated the results from the differential scanning
calorimetry (DSC) studies, showing that metformin is present in an amorphous state within the microparticles. Physicochemical
characterization suggested that PLA and metformin hydrochloride interacted within the microparticles via
hydrogen bonding interactions. The pharmacokinetic study in rabbits showed sustained-release characteristics from
the prepared microparticles with a delay in the time needed to reach the maximum concentration (
Tmax), decreased
Cmax
and bioavailability, and increased mean residence time (MRT) and half-life compared to the pure drug solution.
Conclusions: Metformin-loaded PLA microparticles showed optimal and beneficial properties in terms of their physicochemical
characteristics, making them suitable for use in an in vivo pharmacokinetic study. The pharmacokinetic
parameters of the metformin microparticles from the in vivo study showed a shorter Tmax,
longer MRT and half-life,
decreased Cmax
and the prolonged/sustained release expected for metformin. However, the unexpected decrease in
bioavailability of metformin from the microparticles with respect to the oral solution should be evaluated for microparticle
and dose design in future works, especially before being tested in other animal species in veterinary medicine.Government of the Region de Murcia (Spain) by the Fundacion Seneca 20950/PI/1
Native and Non-Native Processing of the Spanish Subjunctive of Doubt: An Eye- Tracking Study
No full textThe present study examines the effect of Processing Instruction on nonnative Spanish speakers’ development of nativelike cognitive processing of the Spanish subjunctive of doubt, in addition to its durative effects. To analyze the effect of Processing Instruction on cognitive processing behaviors, 28 Spanish language learners enrolled in second- and third-semester Spanish courses and 8 native Spanish speakers (to provide a baseline measure) were recruited. The nonnative speakers were randomly assigned to two groups: a treatment group (processing instruction) and a control group (no instruction). All three participant groups took a pretest and posttest, and the nonnative speakers took a delayed posttest between four and eight weeks following the initial posttest. Through four eye-tracking measures on the area of interest (time to first fixation, first fixation duration, mean fixation duration, and number of fixations) plus measures of accuracy, native and nonnative speakers’ processing behaviors for both the indicative and subjunctive verb forms were captured in a multiple-choice sentence completion task. Results revealed that there was a significant effect of PI on nonnative speakers’ subjunctive item accuracy measures, but the scores did not reach a nativelike level. These gains were retained to some extent on the delayed posttest. Neither a significant effect nor nativelike level was observed for any of the eye-tracking measures across tests. However, the time to first fixation and mean duration fixation trend towards significance, and retention was also observed in these measures. These promising trends within the data support the effectiveness of PI and potential for development of nativelike processing behaviors.Embargo status: Restricted until 09/2028. To request the author grant access, click on the PDF link
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Resistance at virological failure using boosted protease inhibitors versus nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors as first-line antiretroviral therapy - Implications for sustained efficacy of ART in resource-limited settings
No full textBackground Increases in the prevalence of resistance to nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) have been observed among previously untreated individuals in all areas of sub-Saharan Africa. We aimed to examine whether first-line use of 2 NRTIs plus a boosted protease inhibitor (bPI) could protect against emergence of NRTI resistance mutations, compared to the use of 2 NRTIs plus 1 NNRTI.MethodsWe carried out a weighted meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials comparing bPI- with NNRTI-based first-line antiretroviral therapy regimens using random effects modeling.ResultsIn intention to treat analyses, there was no difference in the risk of viral failure at week 48 between NNRTI and bPI (P =. 19). At week 48, the overall difference between NNRTI- and PI-based regimens in selection of any major NRTI resistance mutation (crude unweighted prevalence 3.3% vs 1.6%) was 1.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4-3.0; P =. 00927). There was a statistically significant difference in prevalence of K65R when comparing NNRTI (1.3%) with PI (0.67%); absolute weighted difference 1.0% (95% CI, 3-1.7; P =. 00447). There was also a significant difference in prevalence of M184V/I between NNRTI and PI (crude unweighted prevalence 3.2% vs 1.4%); difference 1.6% (95% CI 0.1-3.1; P =. 0368).ConclusionsDespite the equivalent efficacy and more favorable resistance implications of PI- versus NNRTI-based first line therapy, widespread use of PI-based first-line therapy is not warranted at this time, due to resource limitations and predicted increased risk of resistance-related failure of NNRTI/NRTI second-line regimens. PI-based first-line therapy could be reconsidered when antiretroviral agents from other classes become available for second-line regimens in resource-limited settings. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe
Detection of Schistosoma haematobium using lensless imaging and flow cytometry, a proof of principle study
No full textWe present a simple method for the diagnosis of urinary schistosomiasis using an in-line lensless holographic microscope combined with flow cytometry technique. Using simple image processing algorithms and binary image classifier, our system provides automated detection of Schistosoma haematobium eggs in infected urine samples. Registered hologram is reconstructed by applying backpropagation from sensor to sample plane and reconstructed image is automatically analysed for the presence of S. haematobium eggs. Designed for use in a resource-poor laboratory setting, our proposed method has been implemented using a Raspberry Pi computer. From pre-clinical test performed with human urine samples spiked with S. haematobium eggs (approximately 200 eggs per 12 ml of urine), we achieved a sensitivity and specificity of 50.6% and 98.6% respectively. Our proposed method requires no complex sample preparation methods making the system simple to operate and useable in point-of-care diagnosis of urinary schistosomiasis.This method can be optimized to complement existing diagnostic procedures for the detection of S. haematobium eggs and can be deployed to inaccessible remote areas.Team Raf Van de PlasDesign for Sustainabilit
Development of a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention Program to Treat Anxiety and Social Deficits in Teens with High-Functioning Autism
No full textAuthor Accepted ManuscriptAnxiety is a common co-occurring problem among young people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Characterized by deficits in social interaction, communication problems, and stereotyped behavior and restricted interests, this group of disorders is more prevalent than previously realized. When present, anxiety may compound the social deficits of young people with ASD. Given the additional disability and common co-occurrence of anxiety in ASD, we developed a manual-based cognitive-behavioral treatment program to target anxiety symptoms as well as social skill deficits in adolescents with ASD [Multimodal Anxiety and Social Skills Intervention: MASSI]. In this paper, we describe the foundation, content, and development of MASSI. We also summarize data on treatment feasibility based on a pilot study that implemented the intervention.This project was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health [1K01MH079945-01; PI: S. W. White]. The authors acknowledge consultation from the grant’s full advisory panel, which includes: Matthew Fritz, PhD, Angela Scarpa, PhD, and Michael Southam-Gerow, PhD in addition to the authors of this paper. We also thank the participants in this study and their parents
